La Frontera's imminent departure from six New Mexico counties is cause for concern. The first and only independent assessment of La Frontera's performance by a qualified consultant, Parker and Dennison, shows that by the end of last February, La Frontera had cut staffing by half, was serving less than half of the clients that had been served by the agencies it replaced and was "underutilizing" essential community-based services.

Underutilization exposes patients to preventable risks such as hospitalization and incarceration that could be avoided with appropriate behavioral health care. Incidentally, community-based services are more cost-effective interventions than hospitalization or incarceration. According to the consultant, La Frontera's current client count is 3,793, with 2,113 of those located in the Las Cruces, Anthony and Elephant Butte areas.

Since the July 2013 transition of behavioral health services to Arizona agencies, legislators repeatedly asked the Human Services Department for data on behavioral health services. At best, the data provided were unreliable because the Arizona agencies were not capable of billing for services for several months. Then there was the start-up of the state's new Medicaid program, Centennial Care, with four new managed care organizations overseeing Medicaid services and the usual hiccups that occur when four new health care claims systems go live. At worst, the data were massaged so HSD could claim that more people were being served than before. At least as to La Frontera's performance, the Parker and Dennison report should lay to rest these claims of more clients being served. What now?

Without a citizen advisory board that meets publicly and frequently and hears not only from every replacement provider but also from local organizations that interact with people with serious mental illness (such as law enforcement, hospitals, schools, local governments and the courts), we can expect the same lack of transparency. The composition of a citizen advisory board is key because businesses that contract with the state (and their employees) rightfully fear retaliation from the current administration if they are publicly critical of the administration's handling of behavioral health.

To ensure objectivity and independence from political pressures, members of the citizen advisory board and their family members should not be doing business with the state or work for anyone who does. Members should not be providers of behavioral health services, nor should members hold or be running for public office. As for other qualifications, members should be capable of attending most or all meetings of the advisory board for its first year to ensure continuity and should have a track record of successful collaboration. The advisory board should, of course, include behavioral health consumers and family members of those with serious mental illness. Members should be volunteers.

Communities that have lost trust in the ability of local authorities (often law enforcement) to be transparent and accountable establish citizen advisory boards. If recent history is any guide, we cannot count on the state to accurately report on this latest behavioral health transition.

Addressing the needs of more than 2,000 of our neighbors with serious mental illness is multifaceted and involves many players; we need a single entity to serve as a central collection point for information on how well those needs are being addressed and to promptly alert the public when they are not. Without members of our community willing to dedicate the time and effort to follow developments in the wake of La Frontera's departure, we won't know what's really going on. I urge the city and county to jointly convene a citizen advisory board as soon as possible.

Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, represents District 38 in the New Mexico Senate, where she serves as president pro tem.